Storyhouse welcomes uplifting new indie musical this autumn

A brilliant new indie musical full of heart, humour and hope is set to visit Storyhouse this autumn as part of a world premiere UK tour.

Acclaimed playwright Siân Owen’s How Soon is Now? comes to the award-winning Chester cultural venue on Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 October 2026, with tickets costing from £21.30 for Storyhouse Members.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1997 in Manchester. The DJ is in full flow, and as your favourite indie songs blast out into the smoke-filled air of the club, the whole place feels electric.

Three girls are on the dancefloor. Polly and Angie are up for a big night; Jean is lost and alone. Change is in the air – New Labour, New Year, new millennium. After decades of grey, this should be their time. But as darkness falls and midnight arrives, will they find their light?

Celebrating Northern voices and set to a live soundtrack of 90s classics from the likes of The Stone Roses, Radiohead and The Smiths, How Soon is Now? is an indie musical about mates, music and magic – about finding your place and finding yourself.

Bethan McLean (The One Who Got Away, BBC; A Visit, Paper trail Theatre Company) plays Welsh outsider Jean, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi (The Hunger Games; The Ballad of Songs and Snakes; 10 Reasons Why, Arcola Theatre) as life of the party Angie and LIPA graduate Laura Robinson, making her professional acting debut, as the compassionate Polly.

The cast also includes actor/musician Darren Cowley (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, National Theatre; The Essex Serpent, Apple TV; Spring Awakening, Hope Mill Theatre) as DJ Spin Jim shaping the rhythm of the night through iconic 90s tunes, his ‘Puck-like’ master of ceremonies blurring the boundaries between memory, fantasy and reality.

Meanwhile actor/musician Theo Woolford (The Red Rogue of Bala, Theatr Clwyd; Dial M for Mayhem, UK tour) plays Jean’s controlling boyfriend Carl, and L J Willow (Take Flight, Rebel Sparks; Live Odyssey, Camden Stables) completes the band ensemble.

How Soon is Now? is presented by Manchester-based Box of Tricks (Narvik, UK Theatre Award for Best New Play; SparkPlug, Sky Arts; The Last Quiz Night on Earth, Guardian Best of Culture 2020) and written by award-winning playwright Siân Owen (Under Milk Wood, National Theatre; This Land, Pentabus/Salisbury Playhouse; Classic, Theatre503). It is directed by Adam Quayle for Box of Tricks and designed by Hannah Sibai, with musical direction from Vidar Norheim and movement direction by Chris Brown.

Adam Quayle, artistic director of Box of Tricks, says: “I’m so excited to be working with this company to bring How Soon is Now? to life. With some serious talent in the room – actors with incredible voices, multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist actor-musicians – this promises to be an all-singing, all-dancing theatrical experience. Total theatre.

“Ten years in the making, How Soon is Now? is an electric story of female friendship and empowerment, driven by a live soundtrack of iconic indie classics. A reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is a light that never goes out.”

And playwright Siân Owen adds: “I want audiences to feel like they’ve walked into the middle of a nightclub where a story is unfolding around them, full of laughter, heartbreak, music and magic. But above all, I hope people leave feeling lighter than when they arrived. It’s really a love song to music, friendship, courage and remembering that together we can all find glimmers of hope.”

How Soon is Now? plays at Storyhouse Chester Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 October 2026. Tickets are available here.